


Photographic Memories

by houdini74



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Boys In Love, Committed Relationship, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Romantic Fluff, Wedding Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 13:01:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19085581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houdini74/pseuds/houdini74
Summary: Patrick looks through the photos that David has selected for their wedding reception.





	Photographic Memories

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the fluffiest of fluffy things. It's like kittens wrapped in a baby blanket with a side of sugar.

It’s late when Patrick gets home from the conference. He sets his overnight bag on one of the chairs at the kitchen table and toes off his shoes. He looks towards the bed, smiling when he sees David’s dark hair sticking out from the top of the comforter, the lack of movement indicating that his fiance is fast asleep. He’s been away for two days and he wants nothing more than to slip under the covers with David, to pull his warm body towards him and kiss him awake.

Before he can do that, the photos that David has left strewn about on the kitchen table catch his eye. David’s been trying to put together a selection of pictures to share at the wedding reception and like everything else, he wants it to be perfect. Together, they’ve looked through more photos than Patrick had thought possible, seeing that David has narrowed down the possibilities gives him a feeling of relief, mixed with a surge of love for his sometimes overly precise fiance.

They’d debated whether or not to include any of their childhood photos. Most of David’s formal photos contrast so sharply with the casual homeyness of Patrick’s snapshots, highlighting the differences of who they are and where they came from. In the end, they decided that they would each choose a favorite for the other. Patrick picks up the photo he’s selected of David, he’s about four years old, dressed in a tiny suit at an event with his mother. He’s sitting underneath a table, peeking out from under the white tablecloth, his eyes awash with mischief. 

Patrick sets the photo of David beside the one of himself at a similar age. He’s wearing a red t-shirt and bright yellow rubber boots and he’s holding a black and white kitten aloft for the camera. He’s smiling broadly, his curly hair is long and windblown and he’s grasping the small animal with the awkward grip of a child, but the kitten doesn’t seem to mind. The two photos couldn’t be more different and yet as he looks at them, he can see the same spark of playfulness and joy in both their eyes. When he puts the two photos side by side it’s as though they are co-conspirators in an adventure only they know about.

They’ve decided that all the other photos would be of their lives from the past two years. Neither of them are eager to celebrate moments from before they’d met. Patrick doesn’t want to have reminders of his time with Rachel at his wedding to David and for his part, David has no desire to commemorate the people he’d known and the life he’d lived before he’d come to Schitt’s Creek. 

He picks up the photos of their families that David has selected. At first glance, he thinks they are typical staged family pictures until he looks closer and realizes that instead of perfect posed photos, David has chosen more natural, joking shots. In one, he and David stand with his parents outside of the store. His mom has pulled David down to her height and she’s kissing him on the cheek. David is rolling his eyes, but the smile on his face gives away how much he adores his mom. 

The other family photo is of the two of them with the Rose family plus Stevie and Ted, taken during an impromptu photo shoot outside the motel. He stands next to David, who has one arm slung casually around his shoulders, David’s other hand is gesturing towards Moira who is striking an equally melodramatic pose in response. He remembers laughing with Stevie at David and Moira’s unnecessary dramatics and the two of them are bent over slightly, laughter showing on their faces. To the side, Alexis and Ted have their arms around each other while in the middle, Johnny is the only one looking at the camera. It’s the perfect metaphor for the love and chaos that is the Rose family.

The next photo is of him and David on the day the store opened. They’re standing together in the doorway of the store, arms around each other. He remembers how badly he’d wanted David that day, how it had felt like torture to feel David’s hand on his shoulder, to feel the strength of David’s shoulder beneath the softness of his sweater. He’d had a crush on David for weeks before then, but that moment had been when he’d decided, for better or worse, to act on his feelings. Had David also felt the same way? He looks towards the bed, hoping that David might be awake so he could ask, but the dark hair hasn’t moved.

He flips to a photo of the two of them celebrating David’s winning home run at last year’s baseball game. At the time, he’d thought that he’d never seen David smile so widely, but now it seems like he smiles like that all the time, when he looks at his engagement rings, when Patrick makes him pancakes, when their fingers brush accidentally at work. It makes Patrick’s stomach flutter to know that he’s put that smile on David’s face. What had seemed like a challenge when they first met now seemed like a secret responsibility that only belongs to him, as though part of his purpose is to bring David joy and make him smile.

He grins to see the photo of the two of them with Stevie. He and Stevie are wearing their costumes from Cabaret, their outfits and make-up a contrast to David’s black sweater and white jeans. David stands between them and he’s holding the shopping bag filled with towels that Stevie had given him as an engagement present in front of him, both hands clasped around the handles. Surrounding him on both sides, Patrick and Stevie have their arms around him, they’re mugging for the camera, each kissing David on the cheek. David is trying to look annoyed, but he’s smiling too widely to be believable.

Patrick is kissing David on the cheek in the next photo as well, but this time the teasing is gone. They’d gone for dinner to celebrate their anniversary and David’s birthday and David had snapped a selfie as Patrick kissed him in the restaurant. Patrick is smiling and his eyes are closed as he presses his lips to the rise of David’s cheek. David’s free arm is around Patrick’s shoulder, his hand cupping the back of Patrick’s neck as he looks at the camera. He closes his eyes for a second, he can almost feel the rasp of David’s stubble against his lips, the press of his fingertips at the back of his neck. 

It’s David who is smiling in the next photo. Alexis had snapped it of the two of them dancing during his birthday party. David’s smile is gentler than the smile from the baseball game, the soft smile that he only gives to Patrick. But it’s the look on his own face that catches his attention, he’s looking at David so softly that suddenly there’s a lump in his throat thinking about that night and being able to finally share his love for David with his parents. He’d decided to marry David that night, maybe in that exact moment, when he’d known without question that he’d never want anyone else. 

The last few photos are artistic, abstract shots. He knows that David has taken them just to mark some of the other moments that mattered between them. The first shot is a photo of David’s old room at the motel that makes him smile when he thinks of the times they had curled up so awkwardly together on the too small bed. There’s a photo of a mustard-yellow something that he stares at for a long while before he realizes that it’s the corner of the booth at the cafe, the booth where they’d had their first date and so many other moments since then. 

Tucked under all of the other photos is one that he’s never seen before. It’s a picture of him, taken from behind. He’s sitting on his old bed at Ray’s, his face slightly in profile. Against the light from the window, he’s almost completely in silhouette. He’s never seen the photo, but he remembers the night it was taken. It had been the first time David had stayed over with him at Ray’s, he remembers the excitement and anticipation and nervousness he’d felt that night, followed by the joy of waking the next morning with David in his arms.

He puts the photos back onto the table and slips into the bathroom to change into his pajamas and brush his teeth. He turns out the kitchen lights and heads to the bedroom where David is waiting for him. David has left the bedside light on, it casts a warm glow over the bed, he can see David’s head nestled deeply into the pillow. As though he senses Patrick’s presence, David’s dark eyes open and he smiles, the wide, open smile Patrick has seen in the photos. 

“You’re back.” David’s voice is soft and happy and just removed from sleep. He flips the covers over on Patrick’s side of the bed and Patrick slides between them, moving quickly from the chilliness on his side of the bed to steal David’s warmth. He tangles his feet with David’s, wrapping his arms around him and kissing him softly. He tucks his face into the back of David’s neck at the turn of his shoulder, breathing in the mix of citrus, cedar and eucalyptus that is uniquely David. 

“I missed you.” He murmurs the words into David’s ear and feels him smile in response. “I like the photos you chose.”

David rolls over so that they’re nose to nose. Patrick can just see his eyes in the light from the streetlights. “I missed you too.” He closes the scant inches between them and kisses Patrick gently, humming contentedly. 

He can tell that David is on the edge of sleep and he thinks about whether or not to wake him fully, to let him know how happy he is to come home to find him in his bed and in his life. In the end, he chooses to cuddles closer, resting his head on David’s shoulder and kissing his neck just below his jawline. His thoughts tumble over each other as he remembers of how they came to this moment and as he thinks about what the coming days will bring. In a few weeks, there will be a wealth of wedding photos to join the other photos on the table, each one catching a new moment of their lives. He knows that none of those pictures will fully capture how David has changed his life. But he doesn’t need photos for that. All he needs is David.


End file.
